Boko Haram emir Abubakar Shekau makes his first major video appearance
Nigeria’s Islamic uprising may expand out of the north to other parts of Nigeria, a United States travel advisory has warned.
The group has therefore counselled against travel to 16 of the nation’s 36 states, saying Americans have suffered violent crimes from kidnappings and r*pe to home invasions.
According to the advisory, nine foreign nationals including Americans died last year in kidnappings in South-west Nigeria, three of them killed by their captors during military-led rescue raids.
The advisory posted on the US State Department website on January 8, informing its citizens to expect little help from law enforcement agencies known for harassing and shaking down foreigners and Nigerians at checkpoints.
The advisory said further that US missionaries in northern Nigeria have received “night letters” — covertly distributed specifically written about threats to their safety.
Pointing to possible targets of extremists, it says US citizens should be particularly vigilant around government security facilities; churches, mosques, and other places of worship; locations where large crowds gather such as hotels, clubs, beer parlours, restaurants, markets and shopping malls; and all other areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.
Boko Haram has been responsible for thousands of deaths in a four-year-old uprising in North-east Nigeria, as the group seeks an Islamic state. The insurgency continues and deaths are still recorded often, despite an eight-month-long state of emergency that deployed thousands of troops to Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.
“Late 2013 saw an increase in Boko Haram attacks and clashes with Nigerian government security forces in northern Nigeria,” the travel advisory says.
“Boko Haram is known to descend on whole towns, robbing banks and businesses, attacking police and military installations, and setting fire to private homes,” it says.
It therefore warns: “US citizens should be aware that extremists could expand their operations beyond northern Nigeria to other areas of the country.”
Boko Haram already operates in neighbouring Chad, from which it kidnapped a French priest who was released earlier this month, and militants from Chad, Niger and Cameroun have been reported fighting alongside Boko Haram in Nigeria, raising fears the rebellion could also spread beyond Nigeria’s borders.
The United States also advises against all but essential travel to all 13 northern and central-northern Nigerian states as well as Plateau State, for years the site of deadly ethnic-religious clashes, and the oil-rich southwestern states of Delta and Bayelsa, where piracy is on the rise and militancy by activists demanding a bigger share of oil riches from a government embroiled in numerous corruption scandals.
“Criminals or militants have abducted foreign nationals, including US citizens, from offshore and land-based oil facilities, residential compounds, and public roadways.”
It added that international companies and local authorities assert that the number of kidnapping incidents throughout Nigeria is underreported.
And home invasions “remain a serious threat,” with armed robbers getting into even heavily guarded compounds.
“Violent crimes occur throughout the country,” the advisory stated. “US citizen visitors and residents have experienced armed muggings, assaults, burglaries, armed robberies, car-jackings, r*pes, kidnappings, and extortion,” it added. [TD]
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